Last week, 80,000 tonnes of iron ore arrived in China mined from our Minas-Rio operation in Brazil.
The shipment, destined for the pellet feed market, left the dedicated export terminal at the port of Açu in Rio de Janeiro state eight weeks ago.
Travelling aboard the Key Light vessel, the shipment arrived at the port of Zhanjiang in Southern China and an official ceremony took place to mark the occasion, together with our customer in China.
What sets Minas-Rio apart is its rare magnitude and quality. It comprises a series of open-pit mines and a beneficiation plant at the site, a 529km pipeline to transport iron ore, a filtration/dewatering plant at the port, and the port itself – a dedicated deep-water iron-ore export terminal.
It’s also one of the world’s biggest undeveloped iron resources. Its resource base has increased more than four-fold since acquisition and is currently well over five billion tonnes. Mineral resources, in addition to the estimated probable reserves of 1.4 billion run-off mine tonnes, are estimated at around 3.9 billion tonnes, with further conversion to reserves expected through the project’s ongoing infill-drilling programme.
Minas-Rio is ramping up and we expect to produce 11-14 million tonnes of iron ore in 2015 and to reach 26.5 million (wet) tonnes of saleable product of iron ore pellet feed the following year.
Thereafter, there is potential optimisation to 29 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa).
The successful completion of Minas-Rio is key to our turnaround strategy and long-term success and it is our people who are making this a reality.
At the peak of its development, we employed more than 20,000 people at Minas-Rio. At steady state, we will be employing approximately 4,000 and it is thanks to every single one of these employees and contractors that we have been able to successfully deliver a project of such magnitude. But as Iron Ore Brazil CEO, Paulo Castellari says, there is still a long way to go: “We’re now focused on achieving a safe and responsible ramp-up so we’re up to our 26.5 Mtpa capacity run rate during 2016.”
As we enter 2015, we will continue to build on the relationships we’ve established with the government and the regulatory authorities as we transition to operational mode at Minas-Rio.
